HuR regulates cyclin A and cyclin B1 mRNA stability during cell proliferation.

Colorectal carcinoma RKO cells expressing reduced levels of the RNA-binding protein HuR (ASHuR) displayed markedly reduced growth. In synchronous RKO populations, HuR was almost exclusively nuclear during early G(1), increasing in the cytoplasm during late G(1), S and G(2). The expression and half-life of mRNAs encoding cyclins A and B1 similarly increased during S and G(2), then declined, indicating that mRNA stabilization contributed to their cell cycle-regulated expression.

Comparing patency rates between external iliac and common iliac artery stents.

Purpose: Placement of intraluminal stents in the common iliac artery (CIA) and external iliac artery (EIA) has become an accepted therapy for treating localized arterial stenoses. The purpose of this study was to compare anatomic patency rates of stents placed in the EIA and CIA for occlusive disease.

Methods: A radiologic computer database was used to identify 69 consecutive male patients at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center from February 1, 1993, through January 31, 1999, who underwent placement of 98 stents (82 Wallstents and 16 Palmaz stents) for physiologically significant iliac artery occlusive disease and varying degrees of chronic limb ischemia.

Demonstration of GIS Capabilities for Fisheries Management Decisions: Analysis of Acquisition Potential Within the Meramec River Basin.

/ Geographic information systems (GIS) allow users to explore possible spatial relations that may exist within their data. At the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), GIS data is being used to help make management decisions. Thirteen geographic data layers of the Meramec River Basin, Missouri, were used to help demonstrate the usefulness of GIS for making fisheries management decisions.

Prehospital delay time in acute myocardial infarction: an exploratory study on relation to hospital outcomes and cost.

Background: Short prehospital delay is associated with improved outcomes in myocardial infarction, but the impact on cost has not been tested. Shortening delay time could reduce health care expenditures.

Methods And Results: Two hundred ninety-eight patients were examined with the use of a historic prospective design at 2 hospital sites.

Immunization status of children born to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected mothers in two Texas cities.

Background: Because HIV-infected and HIV-exposed children are at risk of acquiring infectious diseases, they should be immunized.

Methods: We abstracted charts at pediatric HIV clinics in Dallas and San Antonio, matched the children to birth certificates and assessed up-to-date immunization status.

Results: Of the 178 children, 108 (61%) were up to date for the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP), polio, and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) series.

HuR regulates p21 mRNA stabilization by UV light.

Expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 is highly induced by many stresses, including exposure to short-wavelength UV light (UVC), which increases p21 mRNA stability. Investigation into the mechanisms underlying this stabilization process revealed that proteins present in cytoplasmic lysates of human RKO colorectal carcinoma cells formed complexes with p21 mRNA that were inducible by treatment with UVC and other stress agents. The ubiquitous Elav-type RNA-binding protein HuR was identified within the p21 mRNA-protein complexes, as antibodies recognizing HuR supershifted these complexes and revealed HuR-immunoreactive proteins complexing with p21 mRNA on Western blots.

Ozone depletion and UVB radiation: impact on plant DNA damage in southern South America.

The primary motivation behind the considerable effort in studying stratospheric ozone depletion is the potential for biological consequences of increased solar UVB (280-315 nm) radiation. Yet, direct links between ozone depletion and biological impacts have been established only for organisms of Antarctic waters under the influence of the ozone "hole;" no direct evidence exists that ozone-related variations in UVB affect ecosystems of temperate latitudes. Indeed, calculations based on laboratory studies with plants suggest that the biological impact of ozone depletion (measured by the formation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers in DNA) is likely to be less marked than previously thought, because UVA quanta (315-400 nm) may also cause significant damage, and UVA is unaffected by ozone depletion.

Specialized intestinal metaplasia in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

Background: There is an increasing awareness that short (less than 3 cm) segments of Barrett's epithelium and macroscopically normal cardia epithelium may harbour specialized intestinal metaplasia (SIM), a premalignant phenotype. The prevalence of SIM was studied prospectively in an unselected population of patients attending for endoscopy, and the association of SIM with symptoms, lifestyle, medication, endoscopic oesophagitis and carditis was investigated.

Methods: Two hundred consecutive patients underwent endoscopy.

Mouse epidermal growth factor-responsive neural precursor cells increase the survival and functional capacity of embryonic rat dopamine neurons in vitro.

We have grown expanded populations of epidermal growth factor (EGF)-responsive mouse striatal precursor cells and subsequently co-cultured these with primary E14 rat ventral mesencephalon. The aim of these experiments was to induce dopaminergic (DA) neuronal phenotypes from the murine precursors. While no precursor cell-derived neurons were induced to express tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), there was a dramatic 30-fold increase in the survival of rat-derived TH-positive neurons in the co-cultures.

Lipoprotein response to a National Cholesterol Education Program step II diet with and without energy restriction.

This study examined the efficacy of a National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) step II diet (25% fat with < 7% saturated fat [SFA]) with and without moderate energy restriction. We tested the hypothesis that moderate energy restriction would improve the lipid profile resulting from an isoweight NCEP step II diet. Twenty hypercholesterolemic subjets (10 men and 10 postmenopausal women) consumed the following three controlled diets, each of 4 weeks' duration, as outpatients: (1) high-fat, high-saturated-fat diet to establish baseline lipids and isoweight energy requirements, (2) NCEP step II diet at isoweight energy, and (3) NCEP step II diet with an energy level 15% less than isoweight.

Human neural stem cells: isolation, expansion and transplantation.

Neural stem cells, with the capacity to self renew and produce the major cell types of the brain, exist in the developing and adult rodent central nervous system (CNS). Their exact function and distribution is currently being assessed, but they represent an interesting cell population, which may be used to study factors important for the differentiation of neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Recent evidence suggests that neural stem cells may also exist in both the developing and adult human CNS.

Expression of cyclin E or DP/E2F rescues the G1 arrest of trol mutant neuroblasts in the Drosophila larval central nervous system.

The trol locus of Drosophila regulates the timing of neuroblast proliferation. In trol mutants, quiescent neuroblasts fail to begin division. We have investigated this cell cycle arrest to examine trol function.

Murine phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase: cDNA sequence, tissue expression, and mapping.

Phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx), also known as glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), is a 19-kDa, monomeric enzyme that protects cells from lipid peroxide-mediated damage by catalyzing the reduction of lipid peroxides. PHGPx is synthesized in two forms, as a 194-amino acid peptide that predominates in gonadal tissue and localizes to mitochondria, and as a 170-amino acid protein that predominates in most somatic tissues and localizes to the cytoplasm. With the rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) procedure, an 876-bp PHGPx cDNA was amplified from mouse testis, and a 767-bp PHGPx cDNA was amplified from mouse heart.

Long-term functional status and quality of life after lower extremity revascularization.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the longer term (up to 7 years) functional status and quality of life outcomes from lower extremity revascularization.

Methods: This study was designed as a cross-sectional telephone survey and chart review at the University of Minnesota Hospital. The subjects were patients who underwent their first lower extremity revascularization procedure or a primary amputation for vascular disease between January 1, 1989, and January 31, 1995, who had granted consent or had died.

Changes in biologically active ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface.

Stratospheric ozone levels are near their lowest point since measurements began, so current ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation levels are thought to be close to their maximum. Total stratospheric content of ozone-depleting substances is expected to reach a maximum before the year 2000. All other things being equal, the current ozone losses and related UV-B increases should be close to their maximum.

A new method for the rapid and long term growth of human neural precursor cells.

A reliable source of human neural tissue would be of immense practical value to both neuroscientists and clinical neural transplantation trials. In this study, human precursor cells were isolated from the developing human cortex and, in the presence of both epidermal and fibroblast growth factor-2, grew in culture as sphere shaped clusters. Using traditional passaging techniques and culture mediums the rate of growth was extremely slow, and only a 12-fold expansion in total cell number could be achieved.

The development of intracerebral cell-suspension implants is influenced by the grafting medium.

The effect of preparing and grafting embryonic striatal and nigral tissue in four different media was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. The proportion of TH-positive and DARPP-32-positive neurons was determined after 2 days in vitro in standard culture medium following preparation in the different media. The effects were more marked for striatal neurons where DARPP-32 expression in tissue prepared in HBSS was poor compared to other media.

Continuity between wound macrophage and fibroblast phenotype: analysis of wound fibroblast phagocytosis.

Analysis of phagocytic activity in wound fibroblasts was chosen as a means to assess the possible continuity between macrophage and fibroblast phenotypes. Fibroblast phagocytosis of uncoated, IgG-coated, or collagen-coated fluorescent beads was analyzed by flow cytometry in vivo and in vitro. Phagocytosis of fluorescent beads by procollagen I-positive cells (fibroblasts) was evaluated in vivo by injecting beads into subcutaneously implanted sponge wounds in anesthetized Fisher rats.

Solar ultraviolet-B radiation affects plant-insect interactions in a natural ecosystem of Tierra del Fuego (southern Argentina).

We examined the effects of solar ultraviolet-B radiation (UVB) on plant-herbivore interactions in native ecosystems of the Tierra del Fuego National Park (southern Argentina), an area of the globe that is frequently under the Antarctic "ozone hole" in early spring. We found that filtering out solar UVB from the sunlight received by naturally-occurring plants of Gunnera magellanica, a creeping perennial herb, significantly increased the number of leaf lesions caused by chewing insects. Field surveys suggested that early-season herbivory was principally due to the activity of moth larvae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

Mouse glycosylphosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase D (Gpld1) characterization.

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase D (GPI-PLD) is an 110-kDa monomeric protein found in the circulation that is capable of degrading the GPI anchor utilized by dozens of cell-surface proteins in the presence of detergent. This protein is relatively abundant (5-10 microgram/ml in human serum), yet its sites of synthesis, gene structure, and overall function are unclear. It is our purpose to use the mouse system to determine its putative roles in lipid transport, pathogen control, and diabetes.

Heparin, but not other proteoglycans potentiates the mitogenic effects of FGF-2 on mesencephalic precursor cells.

There is increasing evidence that the proteoglycan heparin plays a critical role in the regulation of the activity of FGF-2 by either interacting with its receptor or modifying its stability and functioning. In this study precursor cells were isolated from the rat E14 ventral mesencephalon and cultured as free floating spheres in FGF-2 alone or in combination with heparin or other related proteoglycans, including chondroitin sulfate, keratin sulfate, dermatan sulfate, or hyaluronic acid. Our results show the mitogenic effects of FGF-2 could be potentiated by heparin but not the other four proteoglycans.

Downward flux of water through roots (i.e. inverse hydraulic lift) in dry Kalahari sands.

Downward transport of water in roots, in the following termed "inverse hydraulic lift," has previously been shown with heat flux techniques. But water flow into deeper soil layers was demonstrated in this study for the first time when investigating several perennial grass species of the Kalahari Desert under field conditions. Deuterium labelling was used to show that water acquired by roots from moist sand in the upper profile was transported through the root system to roots deeper in the profile and released into the dry sand at these depths.

Cystic adventitial disease of the popliteal artery: diagnosis and treatment.

Purpose: This paper represents the presentation of a case of cystic adventitial disease of the popliteal artery and an exhaustive review of the literature with an emphasis on optimal means for diagnosis and treatment of this unusual disease.

Methods: We collect all reported cases of cystic adventitial disease of the popliteal artery since the last review in 1987 with an additional review of these cases reported in the U.S.

Weight training increases fat-free mass and strength in untrained young women.

Objective: To examine the effects of a weight training program on the resting metabolic rate, fat-free mass, strength, and dietary intake of untrained young women.

Design: A 12-week weight training program was completed by 20 previously untrained women aged 19 through 44 years.

Subjects: Twenty-three study subjects and 14 control subjects were recruited on a volunteer basis.

Projection of AIDS and HIV incidence among children born infected with HIV.

By 31 December 1995, 6285 children with perinatally acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) had been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by the state and local health departments of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. territories.